the Ritual
by neath-lockhart
Summary: Alternate world. Sam feels like every dangerous thing is attracted to her best friends. Especially Danny. So she undergoes a ritual that gives her a familiar-Phantom. But there's more to Phantom than meets the eye. And he has some connection to Danny.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Metric system used**

**Disclaimer: author does not own Danny Phantom. If author did, Sam would have pupils.**

**IMPORTANT: story inspired by chapter 3 of .chary's collection of one shots: Organised Chaos. chary. was kind enough to give the author permission (with blessing) to use the chapter and continue it and gave the author no rules. So the author is in debt to . below chapter is virtually unchanged from .chary's chapter. sorry, full pen name **isn't** coming through. **

**Reviews: are required for the simple fact that there will probably be grammar and spelling mistakes, and the author kindly requests that you, dear reader, point it out that they may be fixed. Also they make the author feel warm and fuzzy inside.**

**Clue: Nobody knows that Danny is Phantom.**

The ritual was ready, every item checked and double-checked to ensure that the summoning would be_perfect._Candles, dagger, spell book, blood blossoms. Good, blood blossoms definitely needed…just in case. So many things could go wrong with this spell, she knew, but Sam _needed _to perform it. Binding a familiar to her wasn't originally in her plans ever when she entered Casper. But with the rising ghosts and spirits and demons and every dangerous in _general_, having a familiar was becoming and more and or an appealing thought. Sure, her own _personal _magic would be slightly weakened; what with her having to share it with whatever familiar she bound to her, but the trade-off was much better: her familiar would be stronger, feeding off her magic and its own brand of power as , somehow, the rising dangers were inherently attracted to her and her two best friends, Danny and Tucker, and yet, Danny was always the one targeted, which terrified Sam to no end. Nothing against Danny, really, but his affinity for his magic wasn't _really _there and he already had enough difficulty keeping up in his classes, not to mention producing decent attack and defence spells. She and Tucker had a firmer grip on their magic, but honestly, Tucker was more of a technological influence type mage and she felt that she had a better repertoire out of their trio.

Which was why she was doing this. Attempting to bind a familiar to her would end up one of two ways: she'd summon and bind one to her without a hitch….or the familiar could be stronger than her, more malevolent than she intended and end up killing her.

Yeah, Sam was definitely nervous about this. Taking a deep breath, Sam steeled her nerves- this was not just for her: this was to protect two of the people she loved. This was no time to flake and her grip on the dagger tightened as her eyes reread the spell for the nth time that hour. Calling her magic to the surface, Sam allowed it to rest in her blood, just below her skin, letting the two components mingle. It was an odd feeling, one she wasn't used to as whenever she used her magic it would just rush out and become tangible in whatever form she'd be using at the moment. Pressing the edge of the dagger against her palm, Sam bit her lip and slid the blade across her skin in one fluid motion, blood blossoming instantly, the comparison not lost on her and bringing a small smile to her lips despite the instant of pain. Falling to her knees, Sam smeared the blood in a circle that she'd traced out earlier, covering the inner circle and the interlocking lines within. Along with the symbols caught between the two circles, Sam was feeling slightly faint from all the blood used.

After placing the candles and lighting them on the point of the lines within the symbol, it was time for the blood blossoms. While the Fenton family had developed weapons that could use ecto-energy against ghosts (and channel magic to amplify against the_other_supernatural entities), using the modern defences for the spell wouldn't be as effective. Some research had revealed the existence of blood blossoms for ghosts (her room was already coated in the standard defence spells) and she'd ordered the blossoms, special delivery. On the outskirts of the symbol, she scattered the blossoms, using generous amounts- better safe than sorry, Sam supposed.

Initial preparation complete, she sat back, taking a deep breath as she read the spell, focusing on projecting her magic though the gate she'd drawn. The spell was supposed to highlight her magic signature and attract others with similar signatures- or attract others who would like to kill her. Either way, something was going to come through the gate, good or bad. A shiver shook her body as her magic latched on to another entity. Sam's eyes closed in concentration as she bent her magic to wrap around the other's, pulling and coaxing both magic sources back to her.

"_Ow!_What the hell is-_Sam?"_

"_Danny?"_

Her lilac eyes flew open, and, instead of seeing the ocean blue eyes of Danny Fenton, she found ecto-green eyes of Amity Park's spectral protector staring back at her in pure disbelief. For a moment, she'd sworn she had heard her best friend's voice…and then a thought occurred to her. "How the hell do you know my name?" Phantom looked ready to speak, his mouth open slightly, but no words came out and he shut his jaw immediately with a 'snap', opting instead to look around, frowning at the display he found himself caught in. Standing and brushing himself off, he turned his gaze back on her. "Blood blossoms?" He asked her, making a face at the circle he was standing in. "_Ew._Is that blood?" "Mine." She replied in confirmation, trying to process the current information. Phantom was the underappreciated protector of Amity Park. According to the Fenton's, he was a ghost, but had somehow retained his array of magic powers, making him unique even among spectral entities. The fact that her magic was drawn to his was slightly worrisome, but hey, if she was going to take a familiar to protect herself, Tucker, and most importantly, Danny, then having someone as strong as Phantom would be good. Provided that he accepted the contract. After all, he could accept or he could refuse her, but by refusing her, he'd have to give up his magic, as per the spell, or kill her. And she doubted he kill her, if by anything she saw when he was in action. At least, she hoped he wouldn't kill her.

"Sam." Phantom drew her attention and he gestured at the blossoms. "I thought Paulina was my only stalker." He joked, though there was a hint of fear lacing his voice and his eyes seemed to be begging her to deny that fact that she was a stalker. "It's a spell to summon a familiar." She snapped back in defence, ire rising at being compared to Paulina Sanchez of all the people possible. The Queen Bee of Casper and herself had never gotten along._Never._It was a magic showdown waiting to happen.

"Somehow,_my_magic called yours." She grumbled, moving to sit cross-legged on her bed, glaring at the ghost. "But that doesn't explain how_you_know_my_name- you sure you're not the stalker?" Phantom flashed her a roguish grin. "Would you like me to be?" He teased. "Don't worry- you just happen to be around the one person who attracts these attacks- Danny Fenton. I was bound to learn your name and your other friend, Tucker's, eventually." He shrugged. And then her words caught up to him.

"Wait,_familiar?_Is someone after you?" She paused at his tone and gave him a quizzical look, intimidated by the sudden fierceness in his eyes, the ecto-green in them the same colour as the energy surrounding his clenched fists. Coupled with his ripped jumpsuit, complete with wound and ecto-blood, Phantom looked absolutely _menacing _and Sam was grateful he fought for their side. "No one. I just wanted a precaution." She shrugged, making her way to him. Because she was human, she could reach through the natural shield the blossoms made and as she reached to calm him down, Phantom took an involuntary step back, being very careful to no hit the shield.

By pure chance and luck (good or bad- it depended on whose side you were on), Sam's cut palm met with one of Phantom's open wounds and it went downhill from there. Both ghost and human gasped at the electric shock that ran through them. Sam felt a portion of her magic leave her while something more…ghostly rushed in to take its place. The two stared at each other in disbelief and Sam blinked once, twice before what happened finally registered and she all but_threw_herself at the spell book, eyes scanning the page about familiars rapidly.

"Oh. My. God."

Phantom was officially her familiar


	2. Chapter 2

Phantom sighed.

"Great," he muttered. Sam didn't quite hear him. She twitched the page as she read and reread information she had all but memorised already.

Damn it.

Blood to blood was an _emergency_ bonding, not healthy for either participant*. Well, there was blood to blood in a proper bonding, but there were oaths to say and runes that insured the magic flowed properly. Not to mention the simple fact that they were now bound left hand to right shoulder. That was so…so _undignified_. She rubbed her forehead. At least her familiar didn't want to kill her.

"You really should pay more attention to what you're doing," Phantom said grimly. His arms were crossed and he was looking at the floor. He raised his head to look at her, and Sam shivered at the haunted look in his eyes. "Now you're stuck with me. I hope you know what you're doing." Sam closed the book slowly. She swallowed and said "Sorry to say but that was a…" "Emergency bonding, I know," Phantom interrupted, "Just let me out of this ring, and lets set up for the proper ritual." Sam turned slowly to face him. She raised one hand deliberately and pointed to him, "How do you know so much about this? Huh?" He simply looked away.

They were silent for a moment. "I'm a ghost," he said finally, "Ghosts live a long time."

Her eyes widened as she repeated that in her mind a few times. "You've been a familiar before?" He turned back to her and she saw he was clenching his jaw. He nodded once.

It was obvious he would say no more on the subject.

Sam didn't know what to say. She just watched him as he stood in the ring of blood blossoms. Gone were the roguish grins, or the fierce protective glare. He was tense, stiff, walking in tiny circles a few centimetres above the ground. Suddenly he jerked his head, before running both hand through his hair and shaking his head.

Her watch beeped, breaking the silence. "Sammykins, ten minutes to school!" her mum called. "Darn it," she muttered, "I'm sorry, Phantom, I gotta get ready to go to school. We'll have to do this later." She dropped to her knees and scooped away the blood blossoms, dumping them in the box they came in. Phantom gingerly stepped away from them. "Look, I gotta be somewhere…" they both said. And then blushed. Phantom grinned. "Well, it's dangerous to leave the bonding like this, but then again, we live dangerously every day, huh?" he said, "So I'll be back this afternoon, after school." "You know when my school ends? Are you sure I'm the stalker?" He gave one of those grins and laughed, "Well, I'm your stalker now, and you know what? It's totally against my will" He said, before bowing. He then jumped into the air and flew at the ceiling really fast. But half a meter from the roof her defence spells sparked to life and short circuited his power for two seconds. He jerked like someone punched him in the stomach and fell. He landed with a thump and the air was forced from his lungs. Sam gasped, and ,not _quite _ran to him as there wasn't enough room, and crouched beside him. "Um, sorry about…" she had to stop and hold her breath so she wouldn't giggle and offend him.

Only Phantom, the moment he had his breath back, used it to laugh. "Oh man," he gasped, "That's made my day." He sat up, something dancing in his eyes that made Sam want to smile as well. So she did, her smile mirroring his own. He leaned forward and laughed hard. "Shhh, shh! You make Mom suspicious!" Sam said, biting her lip to stop herself. Sure enough, footsteps were heard in the corridor coming towards them. "See you, then," he said, and opened the sliding glass doors that lead to her balcony. He walked out and…continued walking. On air. Show-off.

"Sammykins, are you okay?" her mom said, peeking around the door. She winced when she saw the floor. "I wish you would wait to do you magicky things after school," she sighed. Sam shrugged. She usually did her experiments early in the morning because she'd been up all night preparing. Not point doing something unless you did it well. She decided to risk it and ask her mom something, "Hey Mom, you know that assignment of Mr Lancer's on familiars?" Total lie. Mr Lancer would never give them something so interesting to research, "Is it possible for a familiar to have been a familiar to different people? You know, more than once?" Her mom frowned and walked into the room and tugged at the cover on Sam's bed. Sam's eyes twitched. She liked her bed messy! Then her mom started _rearranging her pillows_. When her bed was annoyingly, _unnaturally_ neat, her mom sighed and said, "I don't know much about familiars, Sammykins. I'll look at the archives today and see what I can dig up, okay?" Her mum was the head Liberian at the university. The post requires a mind like buzz saw, and more lives than a cat. Sam had heard some of the stories and it was one of the few reasons she respected her mother. "Thanks mom," she said, flashing a rare smile. Her mom smiled back. Then she looked hopeful and made a dive for the cupboard. Sam froze. Oh no. She ran for door, "I have to get to school!" "Sammykins please, just try on the dress!"

"NEVER!" Sam yelled dramatically as she ran down the stairs.

She was already half way to school when she wondered about what he said. He'd flown into a defence spell. How had _that_ made his day?

*For the simple reason that in an emergency bonding, whatever happens to one happens to the other, in relation to how they were bonded


	3. Chapter 3 another day another injury

**Apologies. What a fail. Previous chapter had to be re-upload because the author up-loaded the wrong file. Mind you, there were no flames. Also no virtual cabbages thrown *cough SEANTRIAN cough*. So, thank you very much. If you caught the fixed version only, chapter two was accidentally the authors other story, The Voice. **

She walked to school.

Surprise, surprise, she was late. Mr Lancer gave her a sad look and then gave her detention. Great. Than Danny came rushing in, panting to hard he couldn't even speak. He was wearing a long sleaved black shirt, which was weird because it was hot. He gave her a breathless smile and sat down. Or more truthfully, collapsed into his seat. The chair skidded a few centimetres.

Mr Lancer sighed, "Danny, this is the third time this week in as many days that you've been late. I'm sure you must be running out of excuses, especially after last week..."

Danny squirmed under the teachers glare, and the corners of Sam's mouth twitched. Yes last week had been…interesting~.

Danny clutched his bag and rummaged around."Funny…you should…say that…" he panted.

He pulled out three bits of paper and walked to the front of the class, only to be tripped by Dash. A snigger ran through the class.

Sam scowled.

Without any fuss, Danny picked himself up and handed them to Mr Lancer, who raised his eyebrows. "Well Mr Fenton, signed papers by bystanders saying you were caught in an attack? That's very…thorough." Danny shrugged and walked back to his seat. Only to tripped by Tucker. This time he cracked a smile and shoved Trucker who grinned back.

Sam rolled her eyes. These guys. They really weren't worth the effort.

Roll call was over quick, and they each headed off to their respective classes. Unfortunately, Sam only had roll call and Basic Magic* with Danny. He was higher than her in maths and lower than her in English, and he didn't take any magic classes except Basic Magic. Sam rolled her eyes. Jeeze, it was no _wonder_ the kid was so bad at magic! He just kept on running from it. Last semester they had had almost all their classes together, and the amount of time he just plain skipped class was staggering. And then, when the new semester started a few weeks ago, Danny had transferred out of almost all his magic classes. Sam was still mad at him for that, though she had dropped the subject. She wouldn't admit it, but she was missing him. Wizardry** just wasn't the same without him blowing stuff up accidently.

"You okay, Sam?" the object of her woe said at her elbow. "I'm fine," she said in her usual sarcastic way. Most people were put off by it. Not Danny. He grinned, and patted her on the head. She _hated_ that and he knew it, which was why he did it. She swiped him, but he neatly dodged her nails and jogged in the direction of his class room.

"Hey, Fentina," drawled Dash, resident bully and proud holder of the second place in Sam's list of people she really wanted to 'get rid of'. He walked up to Danny and without any further ado, picked him up, opened a random locker and shoved him inside. He then slammed closed the door and walked off. Sam had to dig her nail into the palm of her left hand to stop her throwing a nice plasma ball at the jock's head. It would only get Danny suspended.

It was what Sam really hated about the school. Dash would never get in trouble because he was the football team's star player. Sam would never get into trouble because her family was rich. But Danny, and even Tucker, had nothing like that to protect them. And as such they would always be assigned the blame of whatever had gone wrong around them. Sam could only help by hanging around and making sure people knew they would have to go through her to get to her guys. But Dash as immune as she was, and therefor was unintimidated by Sam. Oh sure, he would never dare to bully _her_. But he bullied who he wanted, and for the last two years who he wanted to bully was Danny.

She hauled open the locker and met Danny's eyes. He was contorted in a way no human should be, but he seemed unharmed when he popped out and tumbled to the floor. A snigger ran through the corridor, and Sam scowled. "It's okay, I'm okay," Danny said softly as he gathered his books. Then he was gone. Sam sighed and leaned her head against the side of the locker, when something inside caught her eye.

It was red, smeared where Danny's right shoulder would've been when he was inside.

Blood.

She swallowed. And turned and ran after him. She saw him up ahead, and without slacking her pace, grabbed his arm as she ran past and jumped into a janitor's closet. She closed the door, and wedged something underneath the handle.

"Sam!" said Danny, who was confused annoyed and worried all at once, "Why did you just do that! I'm gonna be late you know!" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Sam ignored him has she rummaged around in her bag for her healers kit.

"Take off your shirt," she ordered.

Danny looked really worried. "Sam, you know, are you feeling alright? Because I could've sworn you just asked me to…"

"Shut it, Danny!" she snapped, "I saw blood in that locker, and I bet it's yours." She crossed her arms, "Shirt. Off. _Now_." He complied, and Sam examined the wound on his right shoulder. Five deep cuts in a circular shape, like someone had dug giant nails into his back. Alarm bells rand in the back of Sam's mind, but she couldn't figure out why. She just got out her stuff and began to heal ^ him.

With her hands on his back, she wondered, as she often had, why Danny was so cold. There was no reason for it. But he had let it slip once that his average core temperature was 4 degrees. That was _insane_. None of the enzymes the body used worked effectively at that temperature! Scratch that, the human body shut down once core temperature fell below 30 degrees. Shut down as in_ died_.

And his blood…

It was already freezing on his back, little red crystals that were so beautiful, till they melted. The back of his black shirt was stiff with frozen blood. "How did this happen, Danny?" she sighed. She didn't mean just this. So many times she noticed him limping, or wincing, or flinching and had pulled him over only to realise just how hurt he was. So many times she'd hid in this very closet and healed him like she was right now. It was sad how familiar the situation was. It was sad how Danny just accepted it as part of his life. That's why she tried to get a familiar. And when she got home the very first order she would give Phantom would be to protect Danny.

He didn't answer her question. He rarely did. And in silence, they went to their next classes.

**~ However the incident with the teapot and 5 kilometres of yarn on Wednesday was probably the most interesting. Sam would never look at the gym, teapots, and especially knitted bunnies the same way _ever_ again. **

***Basic magic. The how to of everyday magic. Includes basic defence and attack spells not unique to a specific magic type, how to sense another magician in the area, how to send out a SOS call, how to animate a mope and so on. **

****Wizardry. The magic equivalent of chemistry, as opposed to plain old chemistry. It focuses on potions and potion based spells. Think of a school lab and kids in white coats, only instead of the teacher talking about precipitation, he's talking about the words the students need to say; otherwise they'll blow the lab up. Then someone does. That someone is Danny. **

**^Healing. A specific type of magic. It can be hard to master, because it require absolute concentration. It's basically helping the body to heal itself, but one thought wrong, and the wound never heals or merely relocates or gets worse. Herbs and medicines are often used in conjunction with healing for maximum effect.**


	4. Chapter 4 a bit like Mystery Meat

Just to clear everything up, this story uses degrees Celsius for temperature. Sorry if it was confusing.

Soon it was lunch. And for _once_ she was looking forward to it.

She met Danny and Tucker by her locker. They were chatting about, surprise, surprise, food. Tucker was speaking "Meat heightens the senses. And my all meat streak is fourteen years strong." Sam rolled her eyes in disgust.

"And it's about to end," she said smugly, "The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu. I wore them down." She flicked some imaginary dust off her collar bone. There was silence as Tuckers eyes grew large.

"Wait. What did you do?" She gave him a Look.

In the cafeteria, there was the usual line of kids getting lunch. Only, as each on reached the front they were handed…

"What is this? Grass on a bun?" said Danny looking bemused.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" cried Tucker falling on to his knees and clawing at the air. Several people gave him weird looks. One took a photo.

"Tucker, it's time for a change," Sam said haughtily. Danny glanced at her.

"Sam, isn't this a bit extreme?" he said tentatively, eyeing his slice of wholemeal bread and organically grown low fibre grass that could be digested by a human and easily grown and a whole lot of other good stuff. Jeeze, this boy! Sam was slightly put off by his reaction. Couldn't he see that this was important? For the environment? For _her_? She gave him a Look and walked to a table.

They ate in an uncomfortable silence. Or rather Sam ate, and from the corner of her eyes watched Danny and Tucker _not eat_.

"Ah, Miss Mason!" said Mr Lancer walking up and putting a hand on her shoulder, "the school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria." She smiled smugly and Tucker just rolled his eyes. "Thanks again," said Mr Lancer and walked away. Tucker snorted.

"Yeah thanks again for making us eat garbage, _Sam_."

She bristled "It's not garbage! Its recyclable organic matter."

"It's garbage." Danny and Tucker deadpanned.

The Danny breath misted in front of him. Sam stopped herself from tilting her head in a silly girlish way. His breath often did that. And as always, when it did…

"Ummm, guys, I gotta go…" Sam folded her arms and glared at him.

"I don't suppose you'll actually _tell_ us where you're going, will you?" she said scathingly. He shifted nervously and reached up to rub his hurt shoulder.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," he said.

Tucker snorted again, "Sure," he said.

Neither of them believed him. He had a nasty tendency to come back from the 'bathroom' with bruises that weren't there before. He just gave them a nervous half smile, and then he was gone.

Sam scowled at her sandwich. Suddenly she didn't feel very hungry anymore.

It wasn't even like she and Tucker could follow him. Somehow he always managed to avoid them, coming up behind them and pretending that he'd always been there, with that stupid smile of his, joking like it wasn't even a big deal. Every time. _Every single_ darn_ time_. He was like Houdini, only Houdini didn't reappear with a big bloody gash on his face.

Then something in the back of her mind jerked. Her temperature dropped and everything seemed to slow down ever so slightly. She was very aware of her heart beat which was thundering in her ears.

And Phantom was at the back of her mind. When she closed her eyes, she could see through his eyes. She could feel his thoughts, but not what they were. Not unless they were directed at her.

'Sam?' he thought. She smiled without meaning to.

'Yes?' she thought back at him. Looking through his eyes she saw the cafeteria, herself from the outside. She had some weird purple aura around her that no one else had. 'Why are you here?' she asked him. He looked at the kitchen area. Sam's real eyes widened as she saw the ghost. Through Phantoms eyes the ghost seemed to radiate cold blue light.

"Sam?" said Tucker. He leaned back when she suddenly shot up. She slammed her hand on the table and he jumped.

"Let's go," she said, and grabbed his arm and walked to the kitchen. Tucker struggled weakly but he knew he had no choice.

'Sam!' thought Phantom, 'what are you doing?'

'Backing you up,' she snapped back.

'I don't need backup,'

'I say you do. I am your…'

'Mistress I know,' he sighed, 'Fine I'll meet you in the kitchen.'

They pushed open the door to the kitchen.

It creaked.

They peeked 'round the door.

Inside was a granny. A _green_ granny, which was definitely weird. She was holding a bowl of salad and staring at it angrily. Then she dropped it in the bin. Sam scowled. She did not like this lady. Tucker, seeing her frown, chuckled. So Sam kicked him.

"Owwww!" he moaned kind of falling forward into the kitchen then hopping around on one leg. Sam just walked in and leaned on the door, watching him with a slightly evil grin.

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" said an echoy voice beside him.

Tucker froze. Then slowly, deliberately turned to where the voice was. He came face to face with two eerie green eyes. "WRRRrhhhhhhHh!" he screamed and jumped into Sam's arms.

"Mildly offended by that," said Phantom, frowning slightly. Sam laughed, and dropped Tucker.

Then she punched Phantom.

"Ow!" he said, "What was that for?" Sam glared at him.

"You called me your Mistress. _Mistress_. I was going to say I was your friend!"

"Oh," he said softly, rubbing his punched arm.

"Am I missing something here?" said Tucker as he picked himself up, and brushed himself off. Phantom raised an eyebrow and then held up his hand, the thumb and forefinger two centimetres apart. "Just a little bit," he said.

"Just a little bit," muttered Tucker.

"Hello children," said someone, making them all jump. It was the green granny ghost, who had noticed them. Duh. They weren't exactly talking quietly.

The granny held her clasped hands under her chin, the picture to sweetness. "Today's lunch is meatloaf," she said sadly, "But I don't see the meatloaf. Did somebody change the menu?"

Tucker scowled and pointed at Sam, "Yeah. She did!"

The granny dropped her hands as her teeth sharpened into wolf fangs and her hair began to flame. "You changed the menu!" Her eyes turned red and green fire sprang to life around her. "The menu's been the same for FIFTY YEARS!" she roared. An unnatural wind began to blow, sweeping up bits of paper and napkins.

"Get behind me!" ordered Phantom, and Sam and Tucker obeyed.

'Wow, I feel safe,' she mentally snarked at him.

He leapt in to the air and at the granny, who raised her arm. With that, every single plate in the kitchen went flying at him. No, flying _through_ him. They shattered on the wall behind him. He flicked his hands out and ball of something as green as his eyes instantly formed, which he hurled with deadly accuracy. It splattered on the ghost's torso, seeming to sink into her. The green ghost howled in pain. She doubled over and raked her arm through the air. The broken shards of plates came flying at Sam and Tucker. There was no way Phantom could reach them fast enough…

Time seemed to slow down. 'Rhoi'r gorau i' Phantom whispered in her mind, and she whispered with him.

The shards stopped, surrounded by green energy. The granny shrieked in anger. She clenched her fists and flew through the ceiling.

"That wasn't so bad," said Tucker.

"Spoke too soon, Tuck," said Phantom and pointed to a line of ovens that were bouncing up and down. The doors dropped open and a column of green fire spewed right at them.

Sam, though she would later deny it, screamed as she jumped out the way. She spun on her heel and paled as the ovens _unplugged themselves and came bouncing towards her_. "Cysgu," said Sam, drawing a circle on her left palm with her finger. The ovens faltered. Stopped.

Then blazed green fire and flew at her.

"Got ya."

Sam felt something cold wrap around her. But it was comforting. And it smelled like Danny. She was flying through the air, and the wall rose up before her and she screwed her eyes shut.

She opened them to the corridor that led to the cafeteria. Tucker was next to her. She flinched as the wall next to her shuddered.

Phantom picked himself up and floated five centimetres off the floor, glaring down at both of them.

"This," he said in a hard voice, "Is why I_ don't_ need back up!" He reached up to rub his right shoulder, "Both of you could have been severely injured. I will _not_ have that."

"Hey, I didn't want to be here!" said Tucker.

Phantom turned to glare at Sam only. She shrunk back a little from the force of the gaze. He was scary.

"I get the feeling you're the only smart one her, Tuck." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to find that ghost," he said quietly, "You should get to class."

As if on cue, the bell rang. Sam and Tucker looked in the direction on the sound. When they looked back Phantom was gone.


	5. Chapter 5 not so much like Mystery Meat

"Okay," said Tucker, "Talk."

"What?"

"Sam, you know what I'm talking about, and I know that you know, so talk! We were just attacked by a ghost! And then saved by Phantom! And you were talking to him like you've known him for ages! Sam, he's _dangerous_. You remember what happened to Ellie…"

Sam folded her arms, "You also spoke to him! Why didn't you freak out when he was here? Or better yet, ask _him_?"

"Because," said Tucker rolling his eyes, "He's a_ freaking_ ghost. He can kill me. You can't."

Sam sighed and turned away. She had enough of this.

Tucker caught her arm, "Sam, please. Don't leave me in the dark here…"

"He may not be responsible."

"Oh come on dude!" Tucker tore at his hair, "Can you not hear me! Phantom! Mysterious, most likely very dangerous ghost. May or may not have killed someone. Apparently called you mistress. What the hell is going on here?"

Actually, when Tucker put it like that, it did sound very bad. Good thing she hadn't told anyone about her venture.

Still, she knew she could trust Phantom. She knew she could, just like she could trust Tucker or Danny. It was funny, but it felt like she had known Phantom for years. But how could she explain to Tucker. Anything she said would sound like the half bakes delusions of an oracle on speed…well not that bad, but still.

Better just stick to the truth. Yeah. Because that'll be_ just_ as believable.

"I got a familiar. Phantom,"

There was a clinking sound and then Tucker knelt down to tenderly pick up his latest gadget. "I think there something wrong with me," he said calmly, "because I could swear you just said you got a familiar, and that this familiar was Phantom."

"I did. He is."

"WHAT?" he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Sam! Why? You actually went through with it! You're stuck with him forever!"

"I know that!" she snapped, pushing him away, "I did it to protect you and Danny!"

"That's right, Sam. Protect Danny by making a familiar of the ghost that k-""I didn't choose Phantom!" she shouted. There was chatting around them as the kids began to stream from the cafeteria to class. She took a calming breath, "I didn't choose Phantom. I used Merlins version of the summoning, the one that insures you get the best familiar for you magic type. And I didn't mean to bond to him. We're currently on an emergency bond. And Tucker," she looked him in the eye, "I trust Phantom. So just trust me on this, okay?"

Tucker sighed, and shrugged. "Your funeral," he said, but he still sounded worried, "let's get to class. Before people figure out what we're talking about."

The last lesson of the day: Basic Magic.

Surprise, surprise, Danny wasn't there. Sam could see from the annoyed look on Mr Lancers face that the other teachers had notified him of Danny's absence. Sam wouldn't have been at all surprised if he hadn't been seen since lunch. She groaned and put her head in her hands. That boy. She worried twice as much about him as she worried about Tucker.

"Ms Mason," said Mr lancer.

"Yes sir?"

"Have you seen Mr Fenton?"

She sighed, "Not since lunch, sir."

"I see," he said in a hard voice, "Mr Foley?"

"No sir, not since Lunch."

"Hmmm"

Oh boy. Danny was going to be in_ so_ much trouble.

They started. They were currently working on animation, and it was highly entertaining. Just as Mr Lancer was getting the chalk to_ stop_ dancing around the room, the door burst open. Everyone turned to look.

Danny, breathing fast, was leaning hard on the door. "Does… anyone have a… red ribbon?" he panted.

"Nice of you join us, Mr Fenton," said Mr Lancer coolly, ignoring the boys twitchiness. There was blood on his face.

Sam stood up slowly. This wasn't right. Danny has asked for a _red_ ribbon. They were used in banishments…

"Die, ABOMINATION!" screamed the ghost from before, appearing in the doorway. It was instant panic and everyone dived under their tables. Danny spun on his heel, dropping down as he did so. A Bread knife whizzed over his head and logged in the wall, quivering.

"_Feet of Clay_!" swore Mr Lancer, "Daniel, what is that?"

"Ghost!" Danny yelled back, diving under a desk to avoid another knife. Unfortunately, the person sitting under that desk was none other than Paulina Sanchez. She squealed and kicked Danny in the ribs. He cried out and fell sideways, and rolled onto his back. For one moment, he lay still. Then he twitched, flipped his legs up and kicked the ghost in the face.

Wait, Danny just did _what_?

Using the momentum of the kick, he pushed off with his arm and surged to his feet. Then he picked up a table and threw it at the ghost. She smashed to the side and lunged at him, but Danny was already dodging around her, heading for the corridor. The ghost followed, and the class was silent.

Five seconds. Everyone unfroze, and began to move slowly, trying to actually understand what they had just seen.

A sickening thud was heard down the corridor and something, Danny, landed on the ground in front of the sill open door. He tried to raise himself, but he couldn't. He glanced fearfully to the side; eyes widened at something only he could see, and he threw himself into the room. Where he had been a second before was riddled with kebabs. The ghost lumbered into view

"Now you learn why meat is the most _powerful_ of the five food groups!" she said dangerously as she leaned over the boy. Sam's heart seemed to stop beating. Not Danny. Not now. She had a familiar…

'PHANTOM' she screamed mentally, 'where are you?'

All she got back was

"…tired…"

The ghost threw back her head and laughed.

Then "Wanna cookie?" she said smiling sweetly. Danny looked at her like she was insane, and shook his head.

"THEN PERISH!" she boomed and swang her fist. As fast as a snake, Tucker darted out and dived at Danny. He slammed into him, and his momentum pushed them both out the way. Using the distraction, Sam whipped out a marker and drew a square in a circle on the floor. She slammed her hand over it,

"Mae'r trapiau gwynt chi!"

White wind burst from the ground around her hand; it was a tornado that wrapped around the ghost and trapped her…

Then things began to go wrong. The tornado started wailing, an eerie wild sound as it turned red. "Uffern!" Sam swore. She had smudged the circle and had changed the spell. To _what_ she had no idea. The wind was now a deep red, the colour of blood. It began to condense, the wind turning faster and faster, and the howl of the ghost trapped inside could be heard. And then…

It exploded. Meat.

Steak went _absolutely everywhere_ and pushed everyone and everything to the edges of the class and some out the door. It looked like snow fall only meat fall. And there was silence.

Groaning filled the air as people sat up and pushed tables (and steak) off of themselves. Sam lowered her arms and looked around. The ghost was gone. _Gone_ gone. She took a shuddering breath.

"Dude, don't stand up!"

"I'm fine Tucker! Jeeze, you sound like Sam!"

Danny! She jumped up and was by his side in a moment. "Where have you been?" she snapped at him. He winced and shook a steak off his head.

"Well, I've been trying to_ not_ to get killed by that crazy ghost," he said stiffly, "Sorry for not being here like a normal person. It's not like I…Sam? Sam?" he waved his hand in front of her face. But she didn't blink. She was too busy mentally yelling at Phantom.

'When I get my hands on you, you are in for a world of pain, _ghosty_! What was all of that at lunch about _not _letting someone get hurt? Where were _you_ when the crazy granny was trying to _skewer_ my best friend, huh? WHERE. WERE. YOU?'

She was snapped from her ranting by Danny raising his hands to his head and whimpering, "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," really softly.

"Whoa, whoa are you alright?" she asked gently, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Just…just tired," he said woozily. His half-closed eyes began to dim. Sam and Tucker glanced at each other. Not good. He leaned against the wall, "It's a bit…warm…" he said. Oh dear. He was fainting.

Sam took control, "Okay now, lie down," she said calmly, guiding him down, before motioning to Tucker to get a chair. People were moving round the room in a dazed way, but Sam and Tucker ignored them. Tucker dragged over the chair.

"_Interesting times_, Ms Mason! Is he alright?" said Mr Lancer. Sam put Danny's feet on the chair before answering. It was she could not to scream at the teacher. He was _not_ okay. Any idiot could see that.

"I think he'll fine soon, but he was hurt by that ghost."

Mr Lancers thought quickly, "Ms Grey, go get the nurse. Mr Baxter, go the front office and notify them of the attack that just happened. Ms Shade, Ms North and Mr Undergrowth, please go to the class rooms next door and notify them of what just happened, and warn them to be on the lookout. Everyone else now would be the _perfect_ time to use the danger sensing spell you were taught at the end of last semester. Ms Sanchez…stop hyperventilating. "

Sam just fazed him out as she sat next to Danny. He was very pale, but breathing deeply. Sometimes his hand would twitch. She gently stroked his hair. If we were normal friends, she thought, this would mean I was his girlfriend. But it's Danny. Clueless Danny who wouldn't know true love if it came up and hit him. She sighed.

"Sam, that's your fourth sigh in like half a minute. What's up?" said Tucker.

"Just the usual," she said glumly.

He raised his eyebrows. "You should just tell him."

"And then what? Ruin a friendship that's already going down the drain?"

He sighed, "Just cause things are a bit difficult at the moment doesn't mean anything," he rolled his eyes, "Women. So hormonal."

Sam's head snapped towards him, "You wanna say that again?" she said menacingly. His eyes bugged and he raised his hands, "Say what? I'm innocent!"

"Oh yeah?" She balled her fist.

Danny giggled. "You two are funny," he told them.

Tucker looked offended, "So this is okay if it's a guy getting hurt?"

"You're a guy?" said Sam pretending to be surprised.

"Verbal abuse! I'm being ganged up on here!"

"You deserve it," said Danny.

Tucker sniffed and crossed his arms, "You don't even know me!" and he sobbed dramatically.

"Drama Queen," said Sam and shoved him.

Gently, mind you. She didn't actually want to hurt him.

**And before you ask, the thermos is full. Danny was too tired to empty out the ghosts the night before. He slept in so he didn't have time in the morning. On the way to school he was attacked, three times, by different ghosts. Then the Lunch lady attacked. The fight was brutal and halfway though he changed back to Danny. So he decided the only chance he had was a good old fashioned banishment. Only Sam turned the ghost into meat. Yes, the Lunch Lady is gone forever. Magic is a one-way thing. **

**I was thinking of having Sam remember this fight from Phantoms point of view in a dream. Or maybe a different fight. So she understands what a normal day in his life is like. Would anyone like that? **

**The magic words are Welsh, taken from Google translation. Please forgive me if you can actually speak Welsh. Because I can't. **

**One person mentioned that Phantom bonds much quicker with Sam than is usual, and, dare I say it, realistic. That is very true, and I had to sit down and think of some reasons why. Here they are. **

**First, Phantom does trust Sam already, she's one of his best friends as Danny. **

**Secondly, he doesn't actually have any back up in this world. That is, he doesn't think anyone knows about him, so he has no idea how to act around someone he knows as Danny when he's Phantom. So he kinda just falls back on acting like Danny. He has avoided this situation for years by not actually having a proper conversation with anybody as Phantom.**

**Thirdly, Sam_ is_ his mistress under the familiar bond. If she's angry she can punish him. He knows this, and when he remembers, is trying very hard not to make her angry. That's why he immediately backed down when she said she wanted to back him up. **

**If there's anything you don't get, please ask me and I'll try to explain. Or at the very least, think up a reason to make it fit. **


	6. Chapter 6

They went home early. Somehow, the ghost attack had put everyone in to a state in which learning just wasn't possible. People were asking themselves a lot of important questions. Like:

How on earth did that _thing_ get past the defence spells?

How long had it been on school property?

When did Danny, school nerd and universal wimp, learn how to dodge like that?

Sam was asking herself the last question, though not quite worded like that, as she walked home. Danny had been rushed straight to the hospital and Sam hadn't been allowed to go with him. So she was going home. Not that she wanted to. When Danny finally checked his cell, he'd have 15 texts and 30 missed calls. All from Sam.

Well, one from Tucker, probably.

She resisted sending another text. She wasn't _that_ worried.

Actually she _was_ that worried. She only had two friends left. To lose another would kill her.

With that depressing thought, memory reared its ugly head.

You see, once upon a time Sam had four friends.

Valerie, Tucker, Danny and Danni, also known as Ellie, who was Danny's twin sister. Danny and Danni looked the same but were so different in personality people often missed that they were related. Danny was quiet. Ellie was everything else, loud, brave, creative, friendly. When she walked into a room people would turn to look, and when she spoke people would listen. Sam had been rather envious of her when they were younger because Ellie was the leader, the star of their group. Tucker had adored her and Valerie had been her best friend. Danny had been…in the background. Actually it scared Sam how little she could remember of Danny. Sam had kind of 'claimed' him as her best friend, just so she could have a best friend, but she didn't pay attention to him. She played the 'boss' of their friendship, always forcing him to do what she wanted. If everyone was playing hid and seek, she would tug on his sleeve and make him follow her somewhere else. If Ellie, Val and Tucker played house under the tree, she would make Danny play with her on the swings. It's not that she didn't get on with the others. She did. But she just had this urge to prove herself. Prove what to whom, she had no idea.

It got better as they grew up. Or rather, she got better. She started to listen to Danny and realised he was…strange. Different. He had a memory like an encyclopaedia and they could talk forever about anything. And he disliked magic and loved to read and could act really well and…and he was just perfect. A perfect best friend and she loved being around him. And just for while all of them got along and it was heaven on earth, as sappy as that sounds.

Then something happened, two and half years ago. She still didn't know what. But he suddenly became very nervous and wound up and fearful. He would jump at any and every sound. That's when he started being bullied. And he just…shut Sam out. He wouldn't tell Sam anything. Worse, Ellie started sticking to him like glue. She went everywhere he went, and they were always talking.

Six months after that, Ellie died. The room she and Danny shared had been destroyed from the inside. Danny found her there, still alive, and had carried her to the hospital but she was declared dead on arrival. Phantom was the prime suspect because his ectoplasm was found all over the destroyed room. People called him a murderer.

Tucker was heartbroken, Valerie swore revenge on all ghosts and became bitter and obsessed. Danny just retracted into a shell. It killed Sam. But to everyone else, it seemed like Ellie's death hadn't affected him at all.

'LOOK OUT YOU IDIOT!' Phantom roared over their mental link.

Sam threw herself to the side and narrowly missed being sliced in half by some kind of green energy. It sliced a tree down instead, and the bit of Sam that wasn't numb with shock (inner tree hugger) started complaining.

"Are you deaf or what?" snarked Phantom, crouching beside her.

Sam gave him a Look. "Excuse me?," she said.

Despite the danger, he seemed pretty cheerful. A green shield protected them from the attacks of the ghost. It was a lime green colour with a humanoid torso, bird claw legs, ragged black wings and a mouth full of needles. Actually it looked remarkably like a harpy.

"You're excused," he said with a grin "Now get out of here," and then returned his focus to the battle. She was cued in by the change in his posture, from a relaxed crouch to one that allowed instant movement.

"DYE TRATOR" the harpy thing shrieked.

"BAD SPELLING" Phantom yelled back.

Sam winced. Seriously?

The harpy screeched and slashed a three taloned claw over the shield and Phantom was pushed backwards, his feet scraping over the footpath as he fought to stay still. Then he lunged forward with both hands, ramming the shield at the harpy thing. As it was thrown off balance he leapt into the air, summoned a ball of green, and threw it at the harpy, which dodged and returned fire. He looped out the way, summoned another shield and wacked the harpy thing over the head.

"YEW WIL DYE!" It gurgled.

"KNO AYE WON'T" he shouted and whacked it again.

Sam suddenly remembered the time Danny had gone after Dash with a lunch tray. She shook the memory from her head and hid behind the remains on the tree and watched the fight. Phantom _had_ told her to leave, but she was sure he'd take care of it.

Anyway, the harpy thing wasn't very intelligent. Though its attacks were quite powerful, it had only one strategy: slash. And despite the fact that it had wings, it remained rooted to the ground. The faster Phantom was flying rings around it, slowly wearing it down with his own attacks.

Phantom spun in the air, looped around an attack, turned intangible and flew into the ground.

The harpy ghost hissed and shifted unsteadily.

Sam traced Phantom by their link. He was moving underground. Building up momentum.

Odd. She though ghosts hated flying through earth, it being alive and them being dead and all.

BAM!

Phantom, with arms stretched out in front of him and fists glowing green smashed into the harpy, sending it reeling back. As its head lolled on its shoulders he fired at it rapidly.

But the harpy only staggered for a moment, and then the cycle stared again. The harpy attacked and Phantom dodged.

Sam frowned.

The fight was taking longer than it should, she was sure. Phantoms attacks seemed to do nothing. She made up her mind. She was going to help.

Sam cast her eye around, what would be useful? Ah, a stone with a sharp edge. She scoped up an armful and took aim.

Thwack.

She had a good aim. The harpy swung around to face her, only to be blasted in the back by Phantom.

'I told you get out of here!'

'Is it so hard to say thank you?'

Phantom hissed audibly, and Sam could feel his frustration. Like waves on a beach, it rippled over his mind.

THWACK, thwack.

Sam gave a savage grin. They were making the harpy ghost dance, pulling its attention from one side to the other. Sam threw another rock and then dodged out the way of the next attack.

Wizzzzzz….

The last stone zipped through the harpy as the ghost turned intangible. Time slowed down as its cold eyes focused on her, and her breath caught.

No time to run.

It lunged at her, claws reaching out and she screamed.

"SAM!"

Phantom's mind spiked in absolute terror, and a barrier of some sort came crashing down. Energy flooded his entire being, and he reached out with his mind…

…twisted the fabric of reality…

Suddenly he was right next to her. He caught her in his arms and raised a shield. It was pink and a lot more powerful than his green ones. When the harpy struck it, the shield crackled with ice and shattered its claws. It wailed in pain as the cold wrapped around its arms.

Sam shivered and tried to move as close to Phantom as possible. He pushed her away.

There was something wrong with him. His mind was flat, almost dead, except for a one thought pulsing in the centre. She didn't know what it was, but it scared her. He hissed and raised his arms. The way he moved made it seem like he was lifting up something very, very heavy.

There was the sound of shattering glass and crumbling stone. A wall of jagged ice thrust up out of the ground…

Sam was just quick enough to turn away before the harpy was torn to bits.

Silence.

"You know what you are?" said Danny, his voice simmering in rage. "An idiot. Complete and utter IDIOT!" He spun around and grabbed her shoulders. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! What is _wrong_ with you?"

Sam gapped. A second ago she'd been petrified. Now she was beginning to become angry. What was his problem? All she'd done was try to help, and here he was ripping her head off.

"What do you mean, what is _wrong_ with me?" she spat at him.

He feigned surprise. "_Wrong_ with you? There's absolutely _nothing_ wrong with you. I mean, it's not like you completely _ignored_ me when I gave you a simple instruction, right? And then you totally didn't run at a horrible dangerous monster that fully intended to _tear_ you apart. I mean, you really wouldn't be _that_ stupid, would you now? And _of course_ you really wouldn't be so idiotic as to draw attention to yourself by throwing rocks at the aforementioned monster. Never mind that I've been fighting ghosts for the _last two and a half years _and KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"

Sam clenched her hands. How dare he talk to her like she was a child. How dare he. She knew what she was doing! Anger was bubbling in the pit of her stomach and she really wanted to hit something.

"Sam, you've got that look on your face, _again_. The one that shows you're not listening to me at all, just getting angry. "

That was it.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" she snapped at him, "You don't even know me!"

She intended to say a whole lot more than that . But she happened to look up she said 'You don't even know me' and as she said it, Phantoms whole look changed. He went from angry to shocked to hurt.

Wait! What? She hadn't meant it like that! She was just angry, that all!

"Sorry I said anything" he said sadly.

He turned on his heal and walked away.

"Phantom! I just want to help. What's wrong with that?"

He stopped, but he didn't look back.

"The last person who said that ended up dead in my arms."

And then he was gone.

She ground her jaw and stared at the ground. Damn it. She was such an idiot. She blinked away tears.

She would _not_ cry. It achieved nothing.

She walked home, definitely not crying on the way.

Once she reached home she headed towards the kitchen.

"You okay, Sammykins?"

She jumped. Her mom sat by the table, cup of tea by her elbow as she read from a thick book. "Oh, hi Mom. Your home early…" she almost stammered.

Her mom noticed her red eyes and correctly guessed that her Sammykins hadn't yet come to terms with whatever had made her cry and needed some time to think about it. So her mom pretended she didn't notice.

"Well yes, the Library burned down. They've got the time team down there to move the entire building and content from just before the fire broke out to the future, but then the whole thing isn't going to be done til Thursday, with the resulting paradoxes and so on having to be ironed out," she took a sip of tea, "It was all rather exiting."

Sam sat down across from her and tried to smile, "How'd that happen?"

"Oh, funny story, actually. Someone tried to summon a gryphon, ended up summoning a phoenix instead. Of cause they _would_ insist on using a scarab amulet instead of a falcon's talon."

Sam couldn't stop herself. She rolled her eyes. Her mom smiled. "Don't rolled your eyes like that, Sammykins, your face will get stuck like that. Anyway, what's this I hear about you turning a ghost into a pile of meat? Rather unethical, for such a strict vegetarian," she said teasingly. Sam frowned and muttered something about 'ultra-recylo vegetarian' and her mom sighed.

"I won't bug you anymore, then. Here's the info on familiars. Very interesting, if I say so myself." She was holding a clear binder full of papers and placed it slowly on the table. Sam reached out to it, but her mom twitched in back.

The Goth paused. Her mom had _that_ look on her face.

"I'll make you a deal, Sammykins…" Oh no, "Because, you see, I saw the _cutest_ dress on my way home I know you would look _simply_ divine in it…" Her mom had closed the thick book and crossed her arms. Her smile would've been sweet if it wasn't for the look in her eyes.

Sam swallowed. She didn't think there was a way out of this one.

She was right.

**Okay, if you can't tell already, I'll admit it now. I like Sam's mom. I actually feel a little sorry for her, the way she so often portrayed as a total witch who wouldn't care if her daughter burnt to death if it meant climbing the social ladder. So for once, she isn't going to be so bad. Seeing as she's a minor character, this shouldn't be a problem... **

**Anyhow, sorry about the wait. I'm really busy and I guess I just didn't realise how many weeks had passed since I last updated. On the bright side, my chapters seem to be increasing in length. **


	7. Chapter 7 of dreams and reconciliation

. You know those dreams were you're half-awake but not awake? And everything that is dreamt seems really real? Sam slipped into one of those.

'_I'm going insane' _ she thought.

She was flying. Arms pressed to her sides, legs twisted into a tail. With the tilt of her head she changed direction, swooping like missile underwater.

There was an explosion in the background somewhere, followed by a few screams. She whipped around to face them, shifting the air in one smooth movement. At the same time a plume of blue vapour rushed out her mouth.

Wait, didn't that happen to Danny? Was she dreaming she was Danny? But Danny didn't fly…

At this point she was rushing towards the mayhem, twice as fast as before. Buildings zipped by, before she suddenly stopped. Cautiously, intangible and invisible, Sam flew through the last building. One the other side she only stuck through her head and took a quick look around.

There was a park on the other side of the road. And standing there, with several humans hanging from green nets, was…

'_Skulker! Damn him…'_

Sam nearly fainted. She remembered this night. One and a bit years ago, she'd sneaked out the house at midnight in an act of deep and terrible rebellion. After wandering around for half an hour, bored out her skull, she'd been caught by Skulker and hung from a tree like a Christmas decoration. It had been one of most terrifying things that had ever happened to her.

It was also the reason she though Phantom was a hero.

She knew what was coming next.

"Come out; come out, where ever you are. Phantom, I know you're here," said Skulker in a smug tone, "Or something will 'accidently' happen to all these silly humans…"

So she was Phantom. Sam scowled and flew invisibly across the street.

'_I'll let the people go first …' _she thought, reaching out to free a dark haired girl from her prison.

Sam recognised herself.

There was a flash of light and the crackled of energy as the net younger Sam was in electrocuted Phantom-Sam. She almost screamed in pain and dropped her invisibly.

"There you are," said Skulker.

"No kidding," said Phantom-Sam sarcastically, "I think you deserve a prize for that wonderful observation. I didn't know you had it in you, Skulker."

Skulker scowled and raised his blaster threateningly, "I would keep my mouth shut, whelp, if I were you. You are in not in a position to insult your betters."

"I never insult my betters," Sam drawled, and grinned when Skulker's look darkened.

"Shut up," the metallic ghost hissed. He stepped forward and charged up his blaster. Sam got ready to dodge, a cocky smile on her…his? face.

Skulker pointed the gun at one of the struggling humans. The human squeaked in fear and froze.

Phantom-Sam jerked forward and paled.

'_Oh God, no.'_

"On your knees, whelp, and I won't shoot."

Without a word, she dropped to the ground.

'_No, no, no. What can I do? What can I do? What can I do? Maybe once he's distracted with me, I can over whelm him. That's means I'll have to draw him away…'_

"Well I'm surprised. What's your attachment to humans, whelp? They're always trying to kill you. Pfff, who cares?"

Skulker walked towards Phantom-Sam, making sure to always keep the blaster trained on a human.

"Because this works. Listen to me whelp; you're not going to lift a finger to protect yourself. You know why? Because if you do these nets will electrocute the prey. Sorry, hostages. Let me demonstrate…"

There was a buzzing noise, and the nets glowed yellow instead of green.

Being electrocuted is different from any other sort of pain. You can't do anything. Your muscles seize up and you can't breathe or cry out.

So when the nets turned yellow, there was no screaming.

"Stop! Stop it Skulker, I'll do whatever you want me to!"

Sam had leapt up, but at a glance from Skulker dropped down again.

Skulker didn't even say anything. He just levelled his gun at her chest and shot.

Sam winced as she was thrown backwards. There was wet thud as she hit a tree.

Skulker picked her up. "Good boy," he said with savage grin, and punched her.

In the background there was the silence of people desperately watching and thinking. More importantly, it was the silence of people pouring water on the generators that powered the nets, and even more importantly, cutting through the nets.

Sam let out a small whimper and was thrown into a building for it. She smashed into the window and fell on the concrete. There was the tinkling sound of shards of glass falling around her.

"Say good bye Phantom, because-"

"Phantom! We. Got. Out!"

Phantom-Sam shakily raised herself up on her arms and looked towards to voice. There, standing between the trees, fire in her eyes, was the younger Sam.

"WHat?" roared Skulker.

"Run! Get away!" Phantom-Sam shouted.

The young girl nodded once before taking off between the trees. Everyone else was long gone.

"Heh. In your face, Skulker," she mumbled.

"Silence, whelp! Today I rest your pelt at the foot of my bed!"

Skulker stabbed down with his knife, only to hit glassy concert. Sam rolled out the way and kicked the metallic ghost in the side.

"I'm not gonna just lie down and die, Skulker."

Skuler went to punch her, only to be blasted back.

"If only for the fact that I'm already dead!"

They were grappling now, trying to wrestle the other to the ground. Phantom-Sam struggled, but her chest was badly hurt. Skulker stepped back and Phantom lost her balance. As she tried to recover she was flipped over on to her back and slammed down.

'_Why do I have to breathe?'_ she thought, as all the air was forced from her lungs.

"Inexperienced halfa! Just give up and I might let you live. In a cage."

Sam hissed and pulled out a Fenton Thermos. She pointed the thing at Skulker, who distorted and wailed as it tried to pull him in.

Only it didn't work.

'_Darn it, he's still too strong!'_

But it did confuse Skulker. Phantom-Sam quickly charged up some ectoblasts and fired. Everything hit, and Skulker staggered and collapsed.

"Phantom?"

She whirled around to see a girl with long orange hair. Jazz, who was carrying a blanked and looking concerned.

"Are you alright, Phantom? You look pretty beat up."

'_Why is Jazz here? _What_ is it about tonight? It's like two o'clock in morning!'_ "You need to run. It's dangerous."

She looked around and stepped closer to him. "I don't see anything."

"Yes, but-"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Phantom-Sam turned to see Skulker charging at her, intent of murder, knife drawn and gun blazing.

If she went intangible…

'_Jazz'll be hit…' _

Time seemed to slow and she took a deep breath…

'_Can't let that happen.' _

The scream that tore through the night seemed to come from hell itself. Everything it touched was shattered, smashed, thrown up and flung everywhere. Skulker, who the attack was aimed at, simply disintegrated, leaving behind a tiny green blob that smacked into the wall and stayed there.

The wail petered out, and Phantom-Sam hunched over, gasping for breath.

"Just…" she stuttered out before dropping to his knees.

Everything went black.

Sam suddenly woke up.

Then pulled a face, because your breath tastes horrible when you've just woken up. And tried to wrap her mind around what she just saw. There was no doubt that she'd just seen some of Phantoms past.

He was paranoid. No wonder he'd almost snapped when she'd hung around that afternoon. He was _terrified_ of someone getting hurt. If she'd been injured, he would never have forgiven himself.

He really needed a hug.

Sam sat on her bed were she must've dozed off, and tugged at the hem of the awful dress she had to wear. Her mom had extracted a promise from her to wear it again next time she went out with friends, and Sam was debating whether or not to ever go out again. A life of solitude or wearing a pink dress with a lacy back? It was a tough choice

Never mind that now. Let's read this stuff on familiars.

She flipped open the binder, pulled out the first bunch of copied stuff, and began to read. As she did she began to go all cold inside.

It started as a bond between siblings or lovers. Each would selflessly give their lives for the other so both were completely protected at the same time.

Along came wizards, who liked the thought of being devotedly protected, but not the thought being a devoted protector. So they changed the bond.

The more formal the summoning and subsequent bonding, the less free will the familiar had. The emergency bonding, blood to blood, was the most ancient form of bond and gave the familiar the most free will. Basically they got a really bad headache if the master was angry at them and that was about it. But there was nothing to protect the master and the familiar from each other. Thoughts, emotions, injuries and power freely moved from one to the other. A more formal bonding prevented this by handicapping the familiar mentally so nothing harmed the master and so that the familiar felt compelled to obey the master's orders.

Basically, it chopped off bits of the familiars mind so it couldn't fight back.

She'd been about to do that to Phantom, who was a _person_. She was just about to freak out when Phantom was suddenly in her room.

There was an awkward moment. Neither of them made eye contact. What had happened earlier was like a fog in the room, suffocating any words they wanted to say. Phantom pulled at his fingers, scratched his neck and rubbed his arms. Sam chewed her lip and brushed her hair back again and again and again.

"Look-" they said at the same time. Then stopped.

"I shouldn't have-"

"No, you had too, I was stupid-"

"Next time I'll-"

"It'll be different I promise-"

"Promise you, never again, I won't just up and yell at you-"

"Even if it does-"

"I'm sorry-"

There was a pause

"Yeah. I'm sorry too. Maybe we should start again."

Sam cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Sam. Would you please be my familiar?"

"Okay. I will. I'm Phantom, by the way…"

"Cause I totally didn't know that, even though you live in this town and fight ghosts like, every day."

Phantom rolled his eyes, before pointedly looking her up and down. Then he smiled, and she looked away with burning cheeks.

"You know," he drawled, "I never thought I'd see you in a dress."

"Someone forced me to wear it," she said stiffly, and her shoulders hiked when his grin grew even bigger.

"I should thank who ever did." At her angry hiss his grin turned into the roguish one that melted all his fan girls' hearts.

"You look so pretty in a dress. You should wear them more often."

Sam didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. She went with insulted. "I'll kill you," she said ominously.

"Oh, yeah?"

She lunged at him. Only Phantom is a ghost. He did the obvious thing, turned intangible, and laughed as Sam went sailing through him to crash into the floor.

"Look, I know you enjoy wasting time," he said, cheerful ignoring her murderous glare, "but we still have to finish the bonding." Sam flicked her hair, glad of the information on familiars she'd been reading. If only she'd asked for it before she'd done the summoning.

"I've decided not to."

"What?" said Phantom, completely shocked, and Sam smiled grimly.

"You heard me, ghost boy. The proper bonding actually makes the familiar weaker-"

"I know that!" Phantom interrupted, "I know _that_. But the master is safer…"

"I don't care," Sam said, turning to Phantom. "I know I'll be in more danger. But you'll be more powerful, be able to do more things. And you won't be a slave."

Phantom ran a hand through his hair and bobbed up and down in agitation, "But the emergency bond," he said helplessly, "if I get hurt, then you might get hurt…"

"You can work on that. You shut me out of you mind most of the time anyway, so you should be able to keep your injuries to yourself."

"Just do the ritual."

"No"

"Sam! Do you have a death wish?"

"No! That's exactly why I'm doing this! What happened today…" she paused, franticly trying to find the right words, "I wasn't thinking realistically. I didn't think about fighting or what could happen to me. I didn't think about what I would do if I got a familiar, just what I'd order it to do. I never thought about what the familiar would go through…"

She sat cross legged on her bed and looked down at her knees. This was going to be hard.

"Phantom, today I read about familiars. _About_ them, not just how to summon and bind them. I…I never realised a familiar could be a sentient being. And I'm sorry."

"Why?"

Her head snapped up. He looked slightly confused.

"Because I took away your free will! You didn't even want to part of this. It was just, oh you'll be a good familiar, now you have to be or I'll take away your magic."

He sat down beside her. "You didn't realise this before? I mean, you were reading that book and everything, surly you knew what you were doing…"

"Yes. But I convinced myself that I would summon a beast of some kind, or something dangerous to humans in which case I'd be doing everyone a favour…"

"This still doesn't explain why you're being stubborn over the proper bonding."

"Phantom, it's clear as day. I, quite simply, _refuse_ to take away any more of your free will."

I'm not a hypocrite, she added silently, I will not advocate the right of animals but take away the rights of a person.

"This is stupid Sam! You mean you're going to risk your life over some belief? Look, I don't mind. I even give you permission. Will that do?"

"No."

"You stubborn idiot."

"You're not changing my mind, ghost boy."

"Mab i ast," he swore.

"More like styfnig fel mul,"

"Oh forgodnessakes!" he said, throwing his hands into the air. She laughed. Then she gave him a hug. He gave a squeak and stopped moving.

He was cold and hard and when he took a breath she could feel power humming in his chest.

"Um, Sam…."

She held him at arm's length and marvelled at how tongue tied he was. Just like a human.

"Just give up and train me how to fight ghosts."

"Now it's my turn to refuse you."

"Oh come on! I'll stay out of your fights I swear! I'll run when you tell me to. But just think, what if I get cornered by a ghost, hmmm? While you're fighting? Wouldn't it be better if I could protect myself?"

He looked away. Inside his mind two thoughts were fighting, she could feel it.

"Please Phantom. Just trust me!"

He jerked. Then sighed.

"Sam, you are stubbornest person I know."

He turned to her, a small hard smile on his face.

"But still. No."


	8. Chapter 8 a silver baby

**note for a query.**

**A familiar is the spirit companion of a witch, usually a demon, that took the form of the black cat, toad or owl. The familiars job was watch the witch as she brewed potions and imbue the potions with magic. That's black cat and owls are usually were seen with suspicion in the olden days as their presence meant there was a witch around. **

When Sam woke up she was still cranky with Phantom. Well, no so much cranky as rather annoyed.

Refusing to take her training. Come on! She needed this; she was going to get in trouble again. He was just in denial about it. Like her parents were about her being a Goth He was infuriating! Patronising! The little...little _twit_!

And then there was _everything_ else he did that was so infuriating. Like that cocky smile of his that meant she couldn't speak for a second. And that sad look in his eyes when she yelled at him that made her feel awful. And his ability to go intangible, that was _really_ annoying. And he was just as impossible, if not _more_ impossible than Danny.

Oh.

Danny.

He never called her last night. Was he still at the hospital? What if he was really really hurt? Why didn't he call her?

She flipped open her cell and saw this message.

_Coming to school 2day cause I'm fine. Really. Look o o eyes :)_

From Danny of course. Sam shook her head. This boy. He worried her sometimes, he really did. She really didn't know if he was all there. She called his number.

"Hello Sam."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I'm awesome like that."

"You're cheerful this morning."

"I had ice cream for breakfast. Now I'm surfing the sugar rush. Oh, and my sister wants to kill me."

"I'm slightly annoyed with you as well."

"_Only_ slightly annoyed? I'm must be doing something wrong here."

"Unhyper yourself, boy, you didn't call me last night."

"I didn't...oh. Whoa, sorry."

"Aaaaand?" Sam could almost see Danny. And how he would be squirming. Really, she had him better trained than most girls had their _boyfriends _trained. They would gather in bunches and complain that their boy was out all the time and never spoke to them and didn't care. She just had pretend she was upset, and Danny would bend over backwards. It was wonderful.

"I dunno. I'm really sorry. I have no excuse. What can I do to make up?"

"How about the two of us go out this afternoon? If you buy me my favourite ice cream I _might_ be persuaded to forgive you."

"Done! See you at school!"

"See ya."

As Sam hung up it was all she could do not yell in elation. Date with Danny! Yesssss.

She stopped dancing around for a minute to get changed and brush her teeth and grab something to have for breakfast. More or less in that order.

Danny. Such a strange person. Clueless as anything but so darn sweet. She wouldn't change him for anything, no matter how much he worried her.

She gave a diabolical giggle. Or she would have, only Goths don't giggle. It was all part of her master plan, see. Not-dates. Everyone at school was convinced they'd been going steady for _years_. There wasn't a girl in the school would look at Danny for fear of incurring Sam wrath.

Except for Paulina. That idiot would do anything to get her way. Worst thing was that Danny liked Paulina. Or at least, he did once. Actually he used to be interested in a lot of things, like popularity or being good at sports once. They used to talk about it. Sam was all for being as independent at possible and having nothing to do with the A list. He wanted to fit in.

And then Danny changed.

No. No no no no no. Not thinking about this before a date. She was going to enjoy herself, come hell or high water.

When she spotted Danny at school, he waved at her. He had a huge grin on his face and it seemed realer than any of the smiles that he'd worn for the last year.

Tucker looked slightly bemused.

"Okay. What am I missing?" he said.

"Oh for the love of-," sighed Danny, "For once I'm in a good mood and feeling awesome. Can't it just be like that?"

"Not if _I'm_ not feeling awesome," whined Tucker. Danny rolled his eyes. Then he got an idea.

"Hey, is that the silver edition PDA? I though they didn't come out for three weeks yet."

Bingo. Tucker eyes lit up and he held up his new baby.

"Isn't she beautiful?" he cooed.

Sam and Danny made eye contact and grinned. Tucker. Who would change him for anything?

"Congratulations," said Sam, "She's beautiful."

In the corner of her eye she saw Danny desperately trying not to laugh.

"Did you bring me a card?" said Tucker.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you'd have her with you today. What are you calling her?"

"I was thinking of Mia..."

The was a soft thunk as Danny's bag hit the floor. He started laughing. Tucker and Sam high fived and led the snorting boy to class. It was going to be a good day.

In roll call Danny kept on breaking into random big grins.

"Mr Fenton, could you please share with the whole class what it is that is amusing you some much?" said Mr Lancer. It was getting on his nerves. Kids only grinned like that when they were _planning_ something.

"Nothing, Mr Lancer," said Danny, with one such grin on his face.

"Well there must be something going on," said the exasperated teacher.

Tucker broke in, "We're deciding on a name for my baby."

"Your baby?"

"His baby," said Sam and pointed to the silver PDA, "I stand by Monica."

"I like Paige," said Danny.

"Wait, it's female?" said Valerie, as Tucker's face twisted in horror.

"SHE'S female," he said, covering the device protectively.

"Right..."

"Is it like, act stupid day or something?" said Paulina, throwing her hair over her shoulder, "I mean, more so than usual, of course,"

Sam felt a flare on annoyance and then a stirring at the back of her mind as Phantom picked up on it.

"For you sweetie," said Sam, "Every day is act stupid day."

There was an award pause before Danny said gently, "Sam, your implying that she does it on purpose instead of it just being her inherit personality trait."

The popular girl swung around and glared at him, "Like you can talk!" she snapped at him.

"I am talking," he said with a condensing smile, "Or have you only just noticed I can? I wouldn't put it past her" he said to Sam clear enough so everyone could hear, "She's dense enough."

"You little..." astonished anger prevented Paulina from saying anymore. Mr Lancer stepped in.

"Everybody be quiet. Mr Fenton, Ms Sanchez, please refrain from insulting your class mates. Please get ready to go to your first class."

Sam didn't know what to think, as she stood up and pushed in her chair. Part of her was elated that Danny had backed her up like that, not just because it meant he was on her side but because it showed her he obviously didn't feel anything for Paulina anymore. But another part of her was slightly shocked. She knew Danny had a sarcastic streak, but he'd never let it out before. She hadn't realised that he could.

Apparently, neither did the rest of the class. Everyone was murmuring to themselves and casting glances in his direction.

Danny looked a little stunned himself. I don't know what got over me, he mouthed to her.

Oh, he was going to be in for it when Dash got wind of this. The jock was late to class and missed it all, but it was only a matter of time.

She was right.

Dash marched up to Danny as they stood by the lockers, pulling out books. You could _feel_ him coming, he was so angry. People went quiet as he walked past. By the time he reached them they could hear his breathing. He marched up to them, and stood there until they turned to look of him.

He was puffing like a bull and cracking his knuckles. "You ready to die, Fentina?" he snarled.

Next to Sam, Danny turned pale as salt and backed up slightly. He was terrified. You couldn't see it if you didn't know him, but Sam did. His eyes were wider than before and a muscle moved on his temple.

No. Not again.

She straightened up and stepped forward to stand between Danny and Dash. Squaring her shoulders, she glared at the jock. Dash didn't dare hurt _her_. Her parent would sue his family for every last penny, and he knew it.

He sneered at her. "Stand aside, Mason. You don't wanna be dragged into this," he said threateningly.

"Why don't you make me?" she said scathingly.

"Is that a challenge?" he said and stepped forward. And just for a second she was scared. Then her mind shifted and she felt Phantom stir. He was nearby; she could feel it and he knew she was afraid. It was like fire. Fury kindled and licked around his mind, so strong she had to move away.

There was a sudden drop in temperature and the lights flickered. A long ghostly moan echoed down the hallway.

And Sam was gently pulled back by Danny, who's hands were so cold that they burned. She looked at him and went numb. His eyes were icy and he was angry...he looked like he could kill.

"Still here Fentoe nail? I thought you would've run while your girlfriend here was pummelled to the ground."

"You were going to hit her?" he asked coldly. What it Sam's imagination, or did his voice echo slightly?

Dash sneered and crossed his arms, "Would it've pissed you off?" he drawled.

Danny didn't say anything. He just pulled Sam back until he could stand in front of her. Then he straightened up. "What, are you just gonna stand there, Dash? Too scared to move?" he said. Somehow it was a taunt even though he said it in a serious voice.

Everyone was so quiet that Dash's sharp intake of breath could be heard.

"You little..." he snarled. And charged.

Danny swept Sam to the side, crouched down a little and shifted his weight. As Dash ran at him, he braced, pushed off, had his arms around Dash's waist before the jock could blink and flipped him over. Dash's weight and speed worked against him. They went crashing down in a tangle of limbs, Danny falling on Dash. There was a second before Danny surged to his feet and kicked Dash so hard in the ribs that he skidded over the ground. Dash groaned and struggled to his feet. "I'll kill you, you little jerk," he mumbled and swung his fist. Danny stepped to side and as Dash came sailing past, slugged him on the arm. The jock stumbled and lashed out, catching Danny on the shoulder. Then he cried out and covered his hand with his shirt. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Dash snapped, stepping away.

Because Danny was burning with cold and his shirt was covered in shards of frost. Dash had sliced his hand open on a hundred little blades when he'd hit Danny.

Danny rubbed his shoulder as the lights flickered on and off.

"You know what, Dash?" he said, "You've got it wrong. You won't kill me. If _you_ ever scare Sam again, _I _will kill _you_."

Sam didn't doubt it. And Dash, stepping further and further away from Danny didn't either. She'd only seen Danny like this twice before. Once, when someone had insulted Danni soon after her death. And once when Tucker had been tied up and left in the school overnight. Both times someone got very badly injured. And that someone was not Danny.

Dash and Danny glared at each other when-

"_Small Gods,_ people, what is going on here?" snapped Mr Lancer, completely and utterly destroying the atmosphere. The spell was broken, and people began the chatter to each other.

"Okay, okay, get to class people," said the teacher, shooing the students away, "Your all late already and if it wasn't for the fact that there so many of you out, I'd give everyone a detention." He turned to face the boys, who were still standing still.

"What's going on?" he said suspiciously.

"Nothing, Mr Lancer," said Sam, carefully walking to Danny and pulling him away, "Just talking and lost track of time."

"What, all of you? There must have been over forty students standing around, Ms Mason."

"Drama, sir," cut in Tucker, "Discussing a flash mob that's going to be done at the mall this weekend. Sorry sir didn't mean to take too long."

"Yes but-"

"Gotta go sir!"

"Mr Baxter doesn't do drama..."

But they were gone.

"Are you going to keep on doing that?" asked Tucker.

"What?" said a distracted Danny.

"You know, suddenly showing you are proficient at skills that your entire reputation is built around _not _having? I thought you didn't do magic. Or fight. _Definitely_ not both at the same time."

"What?"

"You know I painted my elephant pink yesterday night?"

"Wha-Excuse me? You did _what_?" Danny gave Tucker a muddled look. Tucker, in return, patted Danny on the head.

"It's okay. Don't think too hard." Tucker was, surprisingly, perfectly okay with having a slightly violent friend. Both times Danny had lost it before, Tucker had been the only one not fazed by it all. Because, as he put it, Danny hadn't flipped at them. He never would. And who _doesn't_ feel slightly cosy inside knowing you have a berserker on your side, he said. Which wasn't the _right_ way of looking at the situation, Sam was sure. But what could she say?

Danny had just fought another guy for her. And despite the fact that what he'd done was wrong, she still felt...

Happy.

He had fought for her.

_He _had fought for _her._

"You alright?" he asked. She just nodded with a smile. How could she tell him what she was feeling? He would never get it. She was princess and he was her knight. Which is a totally out dated and flawed ideal and implied that women couldn't do anything but be saved. BUT, who doesn't want a knight? Who doesn't want a cute, sensitive guy to sweep one off her feet and fawn over her and please her? Every girl wants to be adored. Sam wanted to be adored. And Danny, he just made her feel wonderful without doing anything. She was addicted to that light in his eyes that only seemed to shine for her.

No he wouldn't get it. Clueless boy.

"You've never done that before," she said.

"You've never been scared by Dash before."

"Well, actually I have. All the time."

"What? You have... Before?" he turned to her and looked so worried that she couldn't help but smile.

"Danny.." she almost laughed, "I'm scared out of my mind every time he goes after you. Every time _you've_ been scared, every time _you've_ been hurt, I'm scared. It's just today I was scared for me too."

He stopped and stared at the ground. "Sam..." he said sadly, "You're scared? Don't you feel safe?" He made a twitching movement with his hand.

"Safe? When you keep on going off and getting hurt?"

"I what?"

"Don't play dumb. The running off? In class, in lunch, after school? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Danny was looking slightly freaked out

"You realised? What I was doing?" He was going pale. "How much do you know?"

"Enough, dude," said Tucker, "More than enough. We know that your hiding something from us and have been for two and half years. That every time you breath mists you run off and come back limping and that you're always expecting something to attack. _We know. _We're your friends, dude. We know you."

Danny was shell shocked. "You..." he stuttered and looked from one to the other. "You _know? _Why didn't you say?"

"Cause we're your friends. Come on, man. Are you deaf? We just figured that with Danni dyeing and Dash picking you as his punching bag and Val going off on her own and everything else, that the last thing you needed was me and Sam ditching you. Cause we're awesome like that."

"You guys..."

"Here's my stop. Play nice, you two." said Tucker before walking into a class room. Sam heard as she and Danny walked on...

"The panda cake is in the house! Mrs Sealy! You can stop panicking now, I'm here!"

"Mr Foley, you are late!"

"I'm sorry miss; I got attacked by the purple giraffe."

"What, _again?_"

The two of them laughed quietly. Computing class. The nerds were _weird_. They had their own sub culture and everything, with code words and hand signals and secret meetings in the middle of maths. She still didn't know what purple giraffe stood for.

She glanced at Danny from the corner of her eye. _Her_ Danny, she was sure.

"I might just skip Wizardry today," she said, "And sit with you in the library. And help you with your Espanyol. And stuff."

"Thanks Sam," he said, still recovering from the fight and their conversation, "I'd like some company today."

"Remember our outing," she said.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said, and linked arms with her.

She smiled, and hugged him close. She wouldn't change him for the world.

**I have not uploaded in ages. That's why I'm bribing you with two chapters. **


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